NPORS Shoring, Install, Inspect, Remove Training (N049)

Anyone who installs, checks or removes trench support, and the gangers and supervisors who inspect excavations and sign the record. It is a competence card for the task rather than for a machine, so it is usually taken by a whole gang together.

Three days, and up to eight candidates with one instructor, which is the widest ratio NPORS allow across these categories. That makes it one of the few courses where a full gang is trained in a single visit rather than in shifts.

Not for this category. The NPORS test sheet lists no experienced worker route for N049, so everyone takes the full course, or the refresher if they already hold the card and have been doing the work. We will not pretend otherwise to shorten a quote.

By a competent person at the start of every shift in which people will work in it, and again after any event likely to have affected its strength or stability, with a written report. The course covers what that inspection actually looks at and how the report is completed.

The proprietary systems in normal use: trench boxes and drag boxes, hydraulic frames and walings, trench sheets and props. Tell us what your gang uses and the practical is built around it, because the installation and removal sequences differ between systems.

No, and it is important to be clear about it. This card covers the correct use of standard support systems. Deep, complex or unusual excavations need a designed solution and a temporary works coordinator. Recognising where that line sits is part of the course.

Yes, and it is usually better. Your people train in your own ground, with your own boxes and frames and the depths you actually work to. We need a suitable excavation or an area where one can be formed safely, which we agree with you beforehand.

The Red Trained Operator card, which NPORS issue for two years, or the Blue Competent Operator card valid five years where the holder has the relevant NVQ. The CSCS logo version of either needs a current CITB Health, Safety and Environment test.

NPORS courses are priced per course, not per person. What you are paying for is the instructor, the registered tester and the machine time, so the figure turns on four things: the category, which route your operators need (novice, experienced, conversion or refresher), how many people are coming, and whether we run it on your site or at one of ours. It is also why a squad works out considerably cheaper per head than sending operators out one at a time. Use the course builder on this page: tell it who is coming and it works out how many days the course takes and how many times it has to run, which is what the price is built from. Then ask us and you will get a figure for that exact group rather than a list price with conditions attached.

We run NPORS courses across the UK rather than out of one fixed centre, and for most categories the better answer is that we come to you: your operators are assessed on the machine they will be using anyway, nobody loses a day travelling, and for a group it costs less. If you would rather come to us, we have centres at Trent House in Stoke, Pride Park in Derby, Europa House in Manchester and Kingsway House in Liverpool. Tell us where the work is and we will say honestly which way round makes more sense.

There is no fixed timetable to wait for. NPORS courses here are run to order, which means the dates are built around your programme rather than ours, and a single operator or a full squad can normally be booked in within a couple of weeks. If you have a card about to expire or a start date to hit, say so when you enquire and we will work to it.